Two new Irish pubs to visit for St. Patrick's Day
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe
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McGonagle's opened in Dorchester in December, in the space that was previously Dorset Hall. It's named for owner Oran McGonagle, who is also behind the Dubliner downtown and the Cottage in Weymouth. On a Thursday or Sunday evening, you'll find yourself at a popular neighborhood spot, having a cozy dinner or a drink among a crowd of regulars. On a Saturday, you'll arrive to a line that wraps around the outside of the building and a packed house on the dance floor in front of the stage, here to listen to Irish-American singer-songwriters, Pogues tribute bands, country and rock acts, musicians flown in from Ireland to perform, and more. This week brings special St. Patrick's entertainment, from Irish dancers to Clancy Brothers salutes.
The live music scene, just getting started on a Saturday afternoon at McGonagle's.
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe
Behind the stage is a mural of a seaside town, the Guinness toucan mascot gazing out over the water. It's a depiction of Moville, in County Donegal, where McGonagle grew up working in his family's shop. The pub is filled with Irish posters and memorabilia, decorated in dark wood with ornate wallpaper, tin ceilings, stained glass windows, and burgundy booths with nail head trim. Whiskey lovers can store their personal bottles in one of the lockers adorned with gold nameplates. The pub spreads out over two levels, with the stage located downstairs and the upstairs dominated by a square wraparound bar.
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A square wraparound bar dominates the upstairs at McGonagle's.
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe
McGee, also from Donegal, previously worked in London; his resume includes places such as gastropub the Truscott Arms and the Michelin-starred Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. His food at the Dubliner is excellent, and it's a welcome stop for the workers and tourists who come and go downtown. In Dorchester, people stay, and return. McGonagle's is geared toward the local crowd, cultivating regulars. In addition to Irish pub classics, the menu includes things like oysters, smash burgers, and pizza. (McGonagle's brother owns a pizza shop in Ireland.)
If you're in with friends and want to share a snack over drinks, the spice bag is your starting point. It's Chinese-Irish fusion: a heaping portion of battered chicken nuggets, fries, peppers, and onions tossed in a fragrant, zesty-but-not-fiery spice blend and served with a silver pitcher of curry sauce. Yes, it does actually come in a bag; rip the paper open and you're greeted with a glorious cloud of scented steam. The chicken tenders are good here, too, and also Chinese takeaway-adjacent with their crisp batter and sweet-and-sour and garlic-scallion sauces.
The spice bag, a Chinese-Irish fusion dish.
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe
McGonagle's has mastered frying, and the fish and chips is a worthy successor to the version at the Dubliner: a massive piece of fried haddock, golden and fresh, with fries, coleslaw, and tartar and curry sauces. It's a meditative little thing, to sit at the bar with a Guinness to sip, alternating between dips and squeezes of lemon.
Bangers and mash is excellent, the sausages mild and tender on a bed of mashed potatoes, crowned with caramelized and crisped onions, surrounded by deep brown gravy. It's enough for two dinners, at least. Steak tips are cooked to order, with rosy pink centers; they come with a sauce (peppercorn, spiced butter, or garlic-herb) and two sides. It's hard to resist the fries, but don't miss the cauliflower cheese, tender florets in a creamy sauce. And that smash burger, with its two flat patties and all the toppings, is good enough to bring you back for seconds soon.
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Bangers and mash are on the menu at McGonagle's, along with other traditional Irish pub fare, plus dishes such as smash burgers and pizza.
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe
A few miles away, in Back Bay, there's another new Irish pub — with another smash burger. It's a thing.
It's another upstairs-downstairs setting, bar on the ground floor and a dining room above, with Ireland-themed posters on the walls. Sweeney's was previously Sólás, which held down the fort here for more than 20 years. Executive chef Daniel Kenney (Liberty Hotel) now serves a menu that mixes Irish and New England influences: clam chowder, mac and cheese, and crispy chicken sandwiches here; chips with curry sauce, ham and cheese toasties, and full Irish grill there, with rashers, bangers, blood sausage, baked beans, and the lot (11 a.m.-2 p.m. only).
Guinness-braised short rib at Sweeney's.
Courtesy of Sweeney's
There's tender short rib braised in Guinness, as an entrée or sandwiched into sliders, topped with good Irish cheddar and served with a little dish of cornichons. Fish and chips is another winning version, served with tartar sauce, a cheesecloth-wrapped lemon, and a little plastic fish bottle filled with vinegar. The chips at Sweeney's are excellent, curved petals of crisp potato. The corned beef on a sandwich with pickled cabbage slaw is very dry. But salmon cooked on a cedar plank, served with roasted root vegetables and whipped potatoes, makes up for it and would be at home at a gastropub in Boston or Ireland. Kenney has Irish heritage, and his family has a home in County Mayo, so it all makes sense.
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McGonagle's, 367 Neponset Ave., Dorchester, 617-514-4689,
. Appetizers $8-$16, entrees $18-$34, Guinness $9. Sweeney's, 710 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston, 617-933-4803,
. Appetizers $11-$21, entrees $18-$33, Guinness $11.
A selection of dishes at Sweeney's on Boylston, an Irish pub at the Lenox Hotel.
CHRISTOPHER SMITH
Devra First can be reached at
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